In 2005-6, 7% of first year full-time undergraduates in UK universities were known to have dyslexia. Ten years earlier the figure was only 0.8%. There are many factors associated with this increase, but what it does indicate is that as a tutor you will almost certainly have at least one dyslexic student in your classes. What, then, is dyslexia? How does it affect students? How can you help? What support does the University provide?
In these activities you will find out more about how dyslexia affects students, as well as the signs to look out for which might make you suspect dyslexia in your students. You will also learn how you can help, and also how Dyslexia Services supports students with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia and dyspraxia.
Activity 1: Right or wrong perceptions of dyslexia?
First consider what you think dyslexia is and complete the following definition. Then compare your answer.
Dyslexia can be described as a . Some typical signs of dyslexia are .
The British Dyslexia Association currently defines dyslexia as follows:
Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which is neurobiological in origin and persists across the lifespan. It is characterised by difficulties with phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory, processing speed and the automatic development of skills that are unexpected in relation to an individual's other cognitive abilities.
These processing difficulties can undermine the acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills, as well as musical notation, and have an effect on verbal communication, organisation and adaptation to change. Their impact can be mitigated by correct teaching, strategy development and the use of information technology.
Now think about these perceptions of dyslexia and decide whether you think they are true or false. Select your answer and then read the comment to find out more.
The main difficulty that dyslexic students face is their reading load.
This is unlikely to be the case. Although dyslexic students may be slower or less efficient readers than other students, by the time they reach higher education this is unlikely to be their most pressing difficulty. Dyslexia is a syndrome, or cluster of characteristics, which affects students in all areas of their lives and study.
The availability of modern technology means that assignment writing should not be a problem for dyslexic students.
While it is true that the word-processing of assignments helps all students to hand in well-presented written work and avoids legibility issues, the main difficulties faced by dyslexic students are the ordering of their ideas within the assignment, the structuring of sentences, and spelling.
However, even spellcheckers are not infallible: they will not correct real words in the wrong place, and dyslexic students often find that they are unable to choose from the alternatives offered by the spellchecker, or that their attempts are unrecognised or thought to be a different word altogether.
These days, dyslexia is picked up early and students should have developed coping strategies by the time they reach Higher Education.
Many students are not aware of their dyslexia until well into their university courses. They may be returners to study who left education early, possibly owing to their undiagnosed dyslexia, or may simply have coped very well at school by spending extra time studying or developing learning strategies. Others may indeed have been aware of their dyslexia since childhood. However, the demands of Higher Education are very different from those of school, and students who may have coped well in a highly structured environment find that the independence of university study overloads their coping strategies.
Dyspraxia does not cause problems for students because it does not tend to affect literacy skills.
It is true that dyspraxia does not generally cause the same difficulties with spelling, sentence structure and reading speed as dyslexia. It can have an impact on the structuring of written work, however. Furthermore, dyspraxic students' difficulties with organising themselves and their studies can still give rise to a serious degree of frustration. For some dyspraxic students, life skills such as cooking and household chores may be difficult or time-consuming, curtailing study time and making the transition to independent university living more difficult.
Unfortunately this is false. Dyslexic students are a subset of all students and, like all students, have differing abilities, experience, motivation and application. Many dyslexic students, however, do spend considerably longer studying than others and can be very frustrated that they are working long hours but not achieving the grades they would like.
This really depends on your viewpoint. Tutors may feel that the range of reasonable adjustments which dyslexic students expect can place disproportionate demands on their time. However, the answer may lie in careful consideration of the way course materials are presented to all students. Such good practice also has the advantage that dyslexic students can avoid the embarrassment of publicly coming forward to ask for help, as well as being of benefit to all students. Examples of such dyslexia-friendly (and student-friendly) practice might include:
handouts in advance or lecture notes presented via Blackboard (or other intranet)
attention to legibility and accessibility issues
guided and prioritised reading lists
careful attention to the pace of lectures
written feedback or one-to-one verbal feedback on assignments
Activity 2: Identifying the right course of action to take
Tutors may or may not be able to distinguish signs of dyslexia from other common problems when they present in their students, and knowing the right course of action to take if they do suspect dyslexia is important.
Consider each of the following situations and decide which is the most appropriate course of action to follow. Then read the comments.
1. You have been favourably impressed by a student's contributions in seminars and are looking forward to the first essay. When it arrives, you get a shock. Poorly constructed and punctuated, lacking in coherence, it looks as though it was thrown together the night before. What do you do?
Wait and see. It might just have been a one-off. Give it the mark it deserves and see if the next one is better.
Scrawl negative, if justifiable, remarks all over it and correct the spelling in red ink.
Tell the student it's not nearly good enough and that he/she will need to make a lot more effort in future.
In private, ask the student if anyone has ever suspected he/she might be dyslexic and suggest contacting your institution's Dyslexia Service for advice.
In private, ask the student if anyone has ever suspected he/she might be dyslexic and suggest contacting your institution's Dyslexia Service for advice.
For a first essay, it might also be reasonable to wait and see; however, if dyslexia is suspected then early diagnosis always helps.
For more information, visit the following weblink:
2. Early in the year, one of your students comes to you and says that he/she is dyslexic and had extra time and used a computer for A levels. He/she would like the same arrangements at University. What is your response?
Talk to your school examinations officer and ask if the student can be added to the special arrangements list.
Put the student in touch with Dyslexia Services. All special examination arrangements for students with specific learning difficulties are made by Dyslexia Services after reviewing evidence provided by the student.
Put the student in touch with Dyslexia Services. All special examination arrangements for students with specific learning difficulties are made by Dyslexia Services after reviewing evidence provided by the student.
This is doubly important now that schools are able to self-certify for extra time in exams. Sometimes this happens when the student merely reads rather slowly. Dyslexia (or another specific learning difficulty such as dyspraxia) must be formally diagnosed for the University to accept it as ground for special exam arrangements.
For more information, visit the following weblink:
3. One of your students does not appear to have any problems with spelling or reading. However, he/she is hopelessly disorganised, finds meeting deadlines very difficult and never knows where anything is. Furthermore, although his/her essays are reasonably literate they are poorly structured and lack flow. You suspect there might be something wrong but it's difficult to pinpoint.
Ask the student whether he/she is struggling and if you can do anything to help.
Suspect that the student might have undiagnosed dyspraxia and refer him/her to Dyslexia Services for a screening assessment.
Discuss your observations with other tutors - does everyone agree?
Suspect that the student might have undiagnosed dyspraxia and refer him/her to Dyslexia Services for a screening assessment.
Dyspraxia is less well known and understood than dyslexia, but can cause surprising problems for students. The main issue academically is structuring of written work: sentence structure and spelling can also be weak, as the condition has considerable overlap with dyslexia. However, lack of organisation of both study and life can comprise a significant barrier to learning.
For more information, visit the following weblink:
4. You are surprised by the poor exam grades of some of your students, whose coursework has always seemed fine. How do you respond?
Ask the students what happened? Were they ill? Did they panic?
Ask the students how you can be confident that their essays are all their own work if their exams are so weak?
Find out whether the students ran out of time in the exams and whether this is normal for them. Suspect dyslexia and refer the students to Dyslexia Services for a screening interview.
Put it down to examination stress and think nothing more of it.
Find out whether the students ran out of time in the exams and whether this is normal for them. Suspect dyslexia and refer the students to Dyslexia Services for a screening interview.
Running out of time is one of the commonest problems for dyslexic students, both at school and university. Dyslexic students often report enormous discrepancies between exam and coursework grades, because working under time pressure puts too much strain on their weak working memories and slow speeds of processing. This is the rationale behind the allowance of extra time to dyslexic students. However, it is also important to encourage students to seek tutorial help at Dyslexia Services to help them make the best use of their extra time.
5. You receive an email from Dyslexia Services explaining that one of your students has been for a screening interview and a possibility of dyslexia was found. The student has been referred for a full diagnostic assessment, and you are told you will receive further information when the full assessment has been done. A little later, the student comes to you and says that Dyslexia Services says he/she is dyslexic, and asks for an extension on an essay. What do you do?
Give them the extension, using dyslexia as mitigation.
Tell the student you've heard from Dyslexia Services and will wait for the
full assessment details; meanwhile suggest he/she gets on with the essay.
Tell them you're very sorry to hear this dreadful news, and
express the hope that they will be able to cope with the course.
Tell the student you've heard from your Dyslexia Services and will wait for the full assessment details; meanwhile suggest he/she gets on with the essay.
A screening interview is not an assessment: it can show a low, borderline or high possibility of dyslexia but only a full assessment can give a firm diagnosis. Dyslexia Services usually refers everyone who appears borderline or high, but by definition borderline cases can go either way, so no student is told he/she is dyslexic before a full assessment. Dyslexia Services has well-established procedures for feeding back to students and tutors following full assessment, and no student should be considered dyslexic until this process is complete.
Dyslexia Services would not usually recommend extensions on essays anyway, as all that happens is that a backlog of work mounts up which is even less manageable for the student. Any student applying for an extension should do so in the normal way, using normal grounds: dyslexia is not one of them, even for a formally diagnosed student. Again, encouraging the (fully diagnosed) student to seek tutorial support with essays is a better strategy: Dyslexia Services is very experienced in helping students with planning and structure without commenting on content.
For more information on the experiences of students with a range of specific learning difficulties, visit the following weblink:
